Putin spokesman confirms Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sent an email asking for help with Moscow project

"I can confirm that among the total number of emails, we received an email from Mr. Michael Cohen. It really happened," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A top spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Wednesday he received an email from a top executive at the Trump Organization last year asking for assistance in jump-starting a stalled real estate deal President Trump's company was pursuing in Moscow.

"I can confirm that among the total number of emails, we received an email from Mr. Michael Cohen," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call Wednesday, according to Reuters. "It really happened."

The Washington Post reported Monday that Cohen, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and President Trump's personal lawyer, emailed Peskov in January 2016 asking for help with the Trump Organization's project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

The project had stalled when Cohen reached out to Peskov, which he said in a statement to congressional investigators he did at the urging of Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant who was serving as a broker for the Trump Organization.

The Trump Organization began pursuing the real estate deal in Moscow in late 2015 and into early 2016, as Trump was running for president.

During the conference call with reporters, Peskov said the email from Cohen was sent to a public "Press Office of the Kremlin" email address, and said he didn't respond to the message.

"This email said that a certain Russian company, together with a certain individual, is pursuing the goal of building a skyscraper in the Moscow City district, but things aren't going well, and they asked for help with some advice on moving this project forward," Peskov told reporters. "But since, I repeat again, we do not react to such business topics — this is not our work — we left it unanswered."

Peskov also said there were no additional emails from Cohen, but said the Kremlin likely wouldn't have responded if there were further appeals because "this is not our job."